Pratt & Whitney cuts 40 hourly jobs at East Hartford plant

A U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jet takes off from the runway during a military exercise at the Osan U.S. Air Base in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, South Korea, on April 3, 2013. Forty more hourly workers at Pratt & Whitney's East Hartford, Conn., plant lost their jobs last week, bringing the reduction in Connecticut workers since January to nearly 300. The latest cuts were in part related to the conclusion of the F119 engine program for the now-ended F-22 fighter jet program.Associated Press

By HOWARD FRENCH Special to The Republican

EAST HARTFORD — Forty more hourly workers at Pratt & Whitney lost their jobs, bringing the reduction in Connecticut workers since January to nearly 300.

The latest cuts were in part related to the conclusion of the F119 engine program for the now-ended F-22 fighter jet program, Pratt spokeswoman Stephanie Duvall said last week.

Pratt had made the engine for 12 years, ending in January after the Defense Department dropped the twin-engine F-22 in favor of the smaller, single-engine F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Pratt is the exclusive engine maker for both planes.

Lower customer demand for commercial engine overhaul and repair work also contributed to the layoffs, which took effect March 27, Duvall said.

Twenty workers took a voluntary separation agreement and 20 were laid off, she said.

Mike Stone, assistant directing business representative for the Machinists union’s District 26, said start-up of F135 engine production for the Joint Strike Fighter also has been slower than expected.

Pratt cut 50 hourly workers from its East Hartford payroll in February, after trimming 200 salaried jobs in January in East Hartford and Middletown. Pratt has not said how many jobs were lost at each site.

In its annual report in February, UTC indicated that it plans to eliminate 3,000 jobs this year but did not say where the cuts will be made. In addition to Pratt, UTC includes the former Hamilton Sundstrand in Windsor Locks — now part of UTC Aerospace Systems — and Sikorsky Aircraft in Stratford.

UTC in December sold its South Windsor-based UTC Power fuel cell business to ClearEdge Power of Oregon, taking 400 workers off its payroll.

ClearEdge laid off 39 percent of its workforce nationwide in March, including more than 100 in South Windsor. Workers there put the number at 170; a spokeswoman said it was fewer than that but did not provide a number.